When such meat and sausage products or poultry are not directly sold at the place of slaughter or production, they will be packaged, so that the goods can be handled more easily during their transport and possibly intended storage and do not go bad prematurely. Frequently, the already packaged foodstuffs are deep-frozen, so as to increase their durability. It is desired that the packaging material should cover both the outer surfaces of the foodstuff and the inner surfaces in the vicinity of the aperture.
In this connection it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,844,474 to pass a tubular section first through the aperture of the foodstuff, subsequently put the end that has been passed therethrough over the foodstuff and, possibly after an additional suction process, seal the tubular section by means of the other end of the tubular section that has not been passed therethrough. For an easier passage of the tubular section an insertion pin may be used. Having passed the tubular section through the aperture of the foodstuff, which mostly has only a very small diameter, so that as a result the tubular section likewise has only a small diameter after having been passed through the aperture, the tubular section must be expanded to a very large diameter for being put over the foodstuff. It turned out to be disadvantageous that the end of the tubular section that has been passed through the aperture of the foodstuff and is then put over the foodstuff can be seized only with difficulty due to its small diameter and can therefore be expanded only with great effort. This is aggravated in particular in that when passing the tubular section through the aperture the moisture from the foodstuff, which has already accumulated at the wall of the aperture, is absorbed by the end of the tubular section, so that the same conglutinates.
It is the object of the present invention to create a process and a device as described above, which provide for a simple and easy packaging of a foodstuff having an aperture.